Privacy notice · reviewed 27 August 2026
Know the boundary before you speak.
Voice Transcriber has no account, analytics, advertising, crash-report upload, project server, or automatic transcript sync. Your microphone still crosses boundaries you should choose deliberately.
The short version
| Surface | Default | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone audio | Bounded memory; no recording file | Explicit Start/Stop and visible provider |
| Groq cloud | Completed segments only | Cloud consent and user-managed key |
| Local prototype | Unavailable | Explicit source flag plus user-supplied CLI/model |
| Transcript history | Off | Opt in, choose 1–365 days, delete one or all |
| Export | Nothing written | Choose and confirm one destination |
Groq cloud mode
Silence detection happens locally. When a speech segment closes, the app sends an in-memory WAV, model identifier, and language/translation choice to Groq over HTTPS. It does not use batch, file-storage, or fine-tuning APIs.
Groq controls processing after receipt. Review its current speech-to-text documentation, customer-data documentation, and privacy policy. Voice Transcriber does not make a provider-retention promise those documents may later invalidate.
Experimental local mode
A source install can expose local whisper.cpp only with VOICE_TRANSCRIBER_EXPERIMENTAL_LOCAL=1. You choose an executable and model; nothing downloads automatically. Linux speech is passed through a memory-backed descriptor, not a raw-audio file.
The chosen executable has your user-session authority. Treat it as trusted code: it could read or transmit the segment it receives. The current Flatpak disables this path, and the project does not call it a supported offline mode.
Text storage and deletion
The live transcript remains in GTK until you clear or close it. History is text-only, disabled by default, retention-limited, owner-only where POSIX permissions apply, and deletable per entry or all at once. Exports require a visible destination and confirmation.
Clipboard managers, explicit exports, backups, filesystem snapshots, and downstream apps then control their own copies. Flatpak removal with data deletion removes sandboxed settings/history but not exports you placed elsewhere.
Logs and diagnostics
App logs and --doctor are designed not to contain keys, audio, transcript content, provider response bodies, or local model paths. Diagnostics report booleans and normalized failures. Only --doctor --probe-provider contacts Groq, and it sends no audio.
Your control
You can inspect devices and privacy copy without a key, decline cloud setup, avoid Start, turn history off, clear the desk/history, remove saved configuration, and uninstall with sandbox data removal.
Read the complete notice and threat model. Report unintended transmission or secret exposure privately through the security policy; never attach a real key, recording, or transcript.